Marine Plastic

Pollution & The

Great Pacific
Garbage
Patch

Marine Plastic Pollution

The

quantity of marine debris is increasing

in oceans world-wide. Researchers at the
Algalita Marine Research Foundation
documented an increase in plastic debris
in the Central Pacific Gyre five-fold
between 1997 and 2007, where the
baseline in 1997 showed plastic pieces
outnumbered plankton on the ocean
surface 6:1.

What is the Great Pacific

Garbage Patch?
Also

called the Pacific Trash Vortex

Its a gyre of marine debris particles in the
North Pacific Ocean
This patch contains: plastic, chemical
sludge, and other waste
Predicted in 1988 by the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

First seen in 1997 by Charles Moore

What does it look like?

The debris is continuously mixed by wind and

wave action and widely dispersed both over
huge surface areas
It is possible to sail through the garbage
patch area and see very little or no debris on
the waters surface
It is difficult to estimate the size of these
patches, because the borders and content
constantly change with ocean currents and
winds.

Causes

The amount of debris accumulates because

much of this waste is not biodegradable.
Many plastics, for instance, do not wear

Where does this waste come

from?
About

80% of the debris comes from landbased activities in North America and
Asia.
The remaining 20% comes from boaters,
offshore oil rigs, and large cargo ships that
dump/lose trash directly into the water.

The majority of this debris is fishing nets.

How long does it take?

Trash

from the coast of North America

takes about six years to reach this patch

Trash

from Japan and other Asian

countries takes about a year.

Plastic is the main issue

Most of this debris comes from plastic bags,

bottle caps, plastic water bottles, etc.
Plastics make up the majority of marine debris
for two reasons:

plastics durability, low cost, and malleability

mean that its being used in more and more
consumer and industrial products
plastic goods do not biodegrade, but instead
break down into smaller pieces

The sun breaks down these plastics into tinier

and tinier pieces, a process known as
photodegradation

Consequences

Marine debris can be very harmful to marine

life in the gyre:

Sea mammals (e.g. seals) are at higher risk

E.g. Sea turtles often mistakes plastic bags for

jelly fish

They get entangled in plastic fishing nets and

drown (ghost fishing)

Marine debris also disturbs marine food webs

Plastic leach out harmful chemicals, which

enter the food chain when consumed by
marine life

How come no one is

addressing this issue?
The

Great Pacific Garbage Patch is too

far from coastlines, so no country wants to
take responsibility and/or provide the
funds to clean it up.
Cleaning it up would be incredibly
expensive for any country.
Consequently, the amount of marine
debris in this patch continues to grow
every year.

Solution

We should enforce the use of biodegradable

products by passing new laws:

Scientists agree that limiting or eliminating our

use of disposable plastics and increasing our use
of biodegradable resources will be the best way
to clean up this patch.

We should invest in Boyan Slats idea:

All countries surrounding the affected area

should come together and invest in this solution.

The Ocean Cleanup

by Boyan Slat

Slats concept uses the natural ocean currents

and winds to passively transport plastic towards a
collection platform. Instead of using nets and
vessels to remove the plastic from the water, solid
floating barriers are used to make entanglement
of sea life impossible.
By deploying the proposed system for ten years,
almost half of the plastic can be removed.
To minimize costs, The Ocean Cleanup will act as
a facilitator for the research, outsourcing most of
the fundamental research to institutes and
collaborating with offshore and engineering
companies to cover most of the costs.

Sources

http://www.theoceancleanup.com/press/show/item/19year-old-invents-feasible-solution-to-cleanup-oceangarbage-patches.html
http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/enc
yclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/?ar_a=1
http://www.cleanwater.org/feature/problem-of-marineplastic-pollution
http://coastalcare.org/2009/11/plastic-pollution/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch
http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/patch.html
http://www.taylorspureandnatural.com/bloglove/2014/07/
26/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch/
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/06/greatpacific-garbage-patch-tsunami-debris.html